Christmas Craze and Holiday Haze: Part 4

Except the first Christmas wasn’t calm at all. Nothing about child birth is calm. It is loud and violent and like the rest of us, Jesus was thrown into this world and likely immediately screamed his lungs out. Entering this world is shocking for every human being. How much so for the King of kings, Lord of lords, and creator of it!? And Mary did not have an epidural. Jesus did not have nurses tending to him or to Mary. There was no sanitary hospital bed or hospital food delivered when Mary and Joseph got hungry. The birth was real. It happened as it was foretold.

Jesus, God’s own son, entered this world in a very real, violent manner and was going to leave this earth in a very real, very violent manner. You can’t have Christmas without the cross. You can’t have the cross without Christmas. Immanuel. God with us. God has come to save us. He entered this world like a common man. He would die like a common criminal. But his birth, life, death, and resurrection would bring redemptive grace for all humankind. Christmas truly brought the dawn of redeeming grace!

May we all remember why we pause and celebrate this day. It’s Jesus. It has always been about Jesus. The reality of his immeasurable, unimaginable love for us demonstrated most clearly not only in his death on a cross, but in his birth in a stable. The light of the world has come. Now we are called to carry that light with us into a dark world. And because of Jesus, no darkness can ever overcome the hope and peace we have in Him.

Meet Dr. Karen:

Dr. Karen Cleveland is the founder of MND GMZ Ministries, an organization committed to proclaiming the truth about Jesus and reclaiming the rules to finding true identity in Christ. Dr. Karen is passionate about sharing the truth that our identity as a beloved child of God is found in Christ alone and not in the things of the world. Karen earned an MA in Theology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. She currently resides in Pella, IA. She is a lecturer at Central College, where she is also a proud alum, and maintains a small clinical practice at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services.